America Under Barack Obama; An Interview with Nat Hentoff

Rutherford Institute ^ | 12/11/09 | John W. Whitehead

[BCrago66]

"I try to avoid hyperbole, but I think Obama is possibly the most dangerous and destructive president we have ever had." — Nat Hentoff

Nat Hentoff has had a life well spent, one chock full of controversy fueled by his passion for the protection of civil liberties and human rights. Hentoff is known as a civil libertarian, free speech activist, anti-death penalty advocate, pro-lifer and not uncommon critic of the ideological left.

At 84, Nat Hentoff is an American classic who has never shied away from an issue. For example, he defended a woman rejected from law school because she was Caucasian; called into a talk show hosted by Oliver North to agree with him on liberal intolerance for free speech; was a friend to the late Malcolm X; and wrote the liner notes for Bob Dylan's second album.

[BCrago66]

Nat Hentoff is basically a liberal, but an honest one. Later in the interview:

"I am beginning to think that this guy is a phony. Obama seems to have no firm principles that I can discern that he will adhere to. His only principle is his own aggrandizement. This is a very dangerous mindset for a president to have."

[Hildy]

This might be the most profound two sentences I have read in quite some time:

TheLeft has taken what passes for their principles as an absolute religion. They don't think anymore. They just react.

[jessduntno]

He said that Clinton had “done more harm to the Constitution than any president in American history,” and called him “a serial violator of our liberties.”

[jessduntno]

NH: I spent a lot of time studying our Founders and people like Samuel Adams and the original Tea Party. What Adams and the Sons of Liberty did in Boston was spread the word about the abuses of the British. They had Committees of Correspondence that got the word out to the colonies. We need Committees of Correspondence now, and we are getting them. That is what is happening with the Tea Parties. I wrote a column called “The Second American Revolution” about the fact that people are acting for themselves as it happened with the Sons of Liberty which spread throughout the colonies. That was a very important awakening in this country. A lot of people in the adult population have a very limited idea as to why they are Americans, why we have a First Amendment or a Bill of Rights.

[historyrepeatz]

Headline should read, “With Obama, America is Going Under”.

[Sparky1776]

I’m proud to say my greatx6 grandfather was a member of the RI Committee of Correspondence, later a privateer.

[Candor7]

Has he been reading Anne Coulter? Mark Levin?

Or is he reinventing the wheel for liberals?

This guy seems to be a softy. We need fire in the belly, and I doubt he will ever have that.Intellectuals are like that, they know what is wrong but do not seem to do much about it.

[nathanbedford]

For seasoned conservatives here at Free Republic the question is not whether Barack Obama is dangerous but what exactly is it that motivates the man, something we ought to know for the defense of the Republic. For many of us the debate is to decide whether Obama is animated by a narcissistic pathology or a Marxist ideology. Although Hentoff would probably rue the debate, it looks like he falls on the narcissist side. Believing that we ought to know our enemy, I've tried to figure this out myself. I think he is essentially a narcissist who has glommed onto a very convenient Marxist ideology which has worked for him in every circumstance, academia and the mafia/racist politics of Chicago come to mind. Combined, they have provided him with a vocabulary, a stature, and a way of avoiding real thinking, a way of voting "present" or a way of playing the Messiah.

Here is a reply in this vein:

I think he is a narcissist who survives and prospers not by addressing problems but by manipulating people. Narcissists like Bill Clinton or Barack Obama are not stupid, they are wonderfully clever and exceedingly effective in reading their victims and manipulating them.

I think that Barack Obama has a worldview provided to him, posthumously, by Saul Alinsky which gives him a framework for analysis. In other words, Obama does not "analyze", rather he "sorts" and puts data into their appropriate slots provided by the philosophy of Saul Alinsky. He has learned a vocabulary which enables him to contrive a front of effectiveness, a seriousness of purpose and depth of character which is all a sham.

Think of Barack Obama as the professional coordinator at an Alinsky meeting. For those old enough, think of Barack Obama as the leader of an EST meeting of the 1970s. These experiences give him an eschatology, a vocabulary, a forensic ability to manipulate, and ego satisfaction. What was he doing as editor of the Harvard Law Review if he was not producing actual work? He was acting out as a community organizer with the shtick modified to fit a new venue. If one examines his career at every level the pattern is the same. As a constitutional law lecturer he produced no written work but he was evidently perfectly fit to the culture of the law school. In the Illinois Senate he voted present but ingratiated himself with the Daley machine. He barely passed go in the United States Senate but he knew the vocabulary and he passed muster with the likes of George Soros. In each instance, Barack Obama behaves as a narcissist, very shallow, producing no work product, but selling a great package.

If one takes away the Marxist belief system provided to him or reinforced in every step of his development from his mother to Frank Marshall Davis, to Columbia University, the Harvard Law school, William Ayres, to Reverend Wright, one is left with a truly hollow man. That is why Obama is such a dangerous ideologue. There is no Obama apart from a lifelong sham, a compensation for always being advanced beyond his competence because of his race and his ability to manipulate. He simply cannot stop the act and get off stage because there is nothing but the act.

Obama is a man without a soul and without a spiritual compass. His relationship to Reverend Wright reveals that he has no real spiritual quality to him for there could hardly be a more rank apostasy than in the church which he attended for 20 years. It has nothing to do with spirituality and everything to do with ego satisfaction. It is the opposite of the Judeo-Christian message.

Obama cannot abandon his radicalism because there is no other there there. He is a massive compensation system. His body is a life-support system for his narcissism and the narcissism is utterly dependent on the received wisdom from Saul Alinsky and the rest of them.

[GnuHere]

Well said.

[Thank You Rush]

Fabulously written! How do you do this so early in the day? This is worth keeping!!!! There’s so much here that we’ve all been thinking but couldn’t put in order. You did it, you got your mind wrapped around it just fine. Thanks.

[nathanbedford]

I just get up six hours earlier than you guys who live on Eastern time do-which isn't hard when you live in Germany. :-)

[Hildy]

A softy???? He’s a liberal...a pure, old fashioned, principled liberal....The point is any principled person, no matter what their side, knows who Obama is....

If you ever lived in New York, you know who Hentoff is. He’s a legend. My brother actually interned with him about 36 years ago when he was most known for his jazz writing.

[Jack Black]

Ping

[Pining_4_TX]

I disagree with NH on many issues, but he is absolutely correct about government. It bothers me when conservatives are not alarmed by what their own leaders do while in power. Bush was the one who gave Obama the tools he needed to take away our rights and liberties. Conservatives should have protested loudly over the abuses of the Constitution that occurred under GWB, but most cheered him on. Too much power in the hands of government is never good, no matter who is in charge.

[BCrago66]

nathanbedford,

I went to sleep right after I posted this interview, so I didn’t see your comment until just now. I just wanted to say this is analytically powerful stuff, and it gives me something I have to think about. Thanks for posting.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I agree with you 100% there, Hildy. Love that Hentoff!

[Candor7]

Still a softy. We hear a lot of talk these days from the awakening liberals, but no action. That is my point. They need to join with conservatives and act.

[crusher]

utterly insightful in its conciseness. Vielen dank.

[nathanbedford]

Bitte